DMV High School and College Football Report

Robert Stephens, Writer

A finale in DCIAA play, MD is winding down, as is college football.

November 29, 2011 - The Crimson Tide of Dunbar controlled the DCIAA Turkey Bowl championship with a strong defense and dominant rushing attackm defeating the Colts of Calvin Coolidge 33-21 on Thanksgiving Day at Eastern High School.

Dunbar rushed for 273 yards led by Olu Izegwire who finished his day with 153 yards on 19 carries. Curlee Walker chipped in with 120 yards on 20 carries as the Crimson Tide controlled the line of scrimmage.

Coolidge scored first on a 30 yard pass from quarterback
Femi Bamiro to wide receiver Fellonte Misher.

Dunbar came back and scored two touchdowns in the first
quarter. The first touchdown came on a nine yards pass from
Dunbar quarterback Lamel Matthews to running back Olu Izegwire.

The second score came on a 73 yard punt return by Izegwire to make the score Dunbar 13, Coolidge 7 after the first quarter.

Early in the second quarter Coolidge tied at game at 13 on a
66 yard punt return by Charles Gaines.

Dunbar responded with a 28 yard pass from Lamel Matthews to Maxie Stevens. The two point conversion was good and Dunbar led 21-13 at the half.

City Champion: #1 quarterback Lamel Matthews and #2 wide receiver Delonte Matthews

The third quarter was all Dunbar as the Crimson Tide defense stiffened and held the Colts scoreless forcing them into several turnovers. Lamel Matthews connected with Delonte Matthews on a 23 yard pass to increase the lead to 27-13. Dunbar scored later in the quarter on a 12 yard run to increase their lead to 33-13.

"We made some adjustments in the second on defense." said
first year coach Wille Bennett. " We played their receivers tighter."

Coolidge came back in the fourth quarter on a six yard pass
from Darrius Taylor to Fellonte Mischer to close the score to 33-21 Dunbar.

"I'm proud of my team they played hard, we just made some
mistakes which hurt us." said Colts head coach Natalie Randolph.

Randolph's team who made the playoffs last season in her first year feels confident she can keep the program strong. " We will build on this for next year." said the second year coach.

This was Dunbar's tenth DCIAA Championship.

"We had a rough start but we were able to overcome the
adversity we faced early in the season and become the champions" said an elated coach Bennett. Dunbar lost their coach Asshaa Cherry for playing three ineligible players, and had to forfeit a game due to an altercation they had in an out of conference game against Dunbar of Baltimore.

"Being a graduate of Dunbar this means so much to me as
well as the team" said Coach Bennett who was named the head coach after Cherry's dismissal.

"This team stayed together and we and the coaches put a
game plan together and the players executed it perfectly. This win is so satisfying I can't describe it." said coach Bennett

Dunbar improved to 9-3 on the season. Coolidge dropped to 8-3 on the year.

In the Maryland 4A State semifinal Quince Orchard defeated
Wise 23-13 as Mark Green rushed for 273 yards on 40 carries. Green scored on runs of 14 and 39 yards as the Cougars improved to 13-0 on the season. Quince Orchard will face Old Mill 13-0 on Friday at 7:30 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.

Douglass, the lone PG County representative, will face
Middleton. Douglass defeated Kent Island 22-6 to advance to the Maryland State 2A final. Douglass improved to 11-2 on the season. Emmanuel Smith rushed for two touchdowns on runs of 84 and 1 to lead the Eagles.

The Maryland Terrapins fell to 2-10 on the year after their loss to North Carolina State. The Terps defense suffered a serious let down against the Wolfpack allowing 35 points in the 4th quarter.

In the FCS playoffs Norfolk State the MEAC champion fell
to Old Dominion 35-18. The Spartans finished their season with a record of 9-3.

Two big games down South as Alabama State defeated
Tuskegee 30-21 and Grambling beat Southern 36-12.

In the race for the BCS $ title game its basically a done
deal with LSU's victory over Arkansas and Alabama's win over rival Auburn. This would be a first as far as the BCS is concerned; a return matchup. They have been able to avoid with some reservation over the years two teams that had met during the regular season.

Of course one of my favorites, the Houston Cougars, are now 12-0 but because of their conference (USA) they won't get a sniff at that payday. The Cougars, if they win
their conference championship game, will play in a BCS Bowl and I will be their rooting for them.

Should USC be rated in the BCS ? The writers treat them like the plague but they rate them in their weekly poll. The coaches don't rate them and the BCS also acts like they don't exist. One things for sure they have been on network TV (they don't put their ranking on the monitor) I guess the NCAA would frown on that. They get paid for all network TV appearances in full $ and that's been more than once.

Did I not see the Trojans hold on for dear life and defeat the Oregon Ducks and their video game offense on network (ABC) coast to coast? To make a point the AP
currently has the Trojans tied for 9th with Boise St. and Oregon is rated 8th ahead of USC who by the way beat them on the road.

The USC coaching staff has done a great job with a team that was playing on pride alone with loss of scholarships, and they are young. Their season ended Saturday night as they defeated their archrival UCLA 50-0. You can call that a statement but should they be rated by the BCS ?